Preparation and treatment of bread dough



economical and convenient than heretofore.

v provide a straight-dough process in whichv closed, and the scope of the ture-of 78 to 82 of the dough from the mixin its subdivision into loaves) t Patented Mar. 17, 1925;

I 1,529,649, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ROBERT L. COREY, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE FLEISGHMANH' COMPANY,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

rR-ErAEATronAnn TREATMENT or BREAD DOUGH.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

-Be it known that I, ROBERT L. Comer, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in the county and State of following is a specification.

This invention relates to the-preparation and. treatment of dough, and more particularly to the preparationand treatment of' dough for the manufacture of bread, and has for its object generally to produce a bread loaf having good volume, crust and texture of crumb, 1n a manner which 1s more ore specifically an object'of this invention is to provide an improved 'prbcess for the manufacture of bread in such manner that the capacity of the "machinery of any bakery is substantially increased and the cost of the production of the bread is reduced,

both by the reduction-of the time factor in the dough preparation and by the avoidance of the need of artificial refrigeration in the preparation of dough.

A further object of the invention is to white flours of widely different compositions maybe utilized without varying the pro-- cedure of carrying out the process, and with,- out necessitating the analysis of the flour to determine the chemical characteristics-thereo g A Other objects of the invention'will in part i be obvious after.-

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation and order; of one or more of such steps, with respect-to each of the others thereof, which will be exemplified in the process hereinafter disapplication of which will be indicated in the claims,

Heretofore in the preparation. of bread .in ba 'eries it has been customary to take the dough from mixing machines at a temperaand during'the dough the time between the delivery machines and e temperature usual practice up to as much as an extreme upper and will in part appear hereintime (that is,

of the dough in heretofore might occasionally increase as about 819 to 83 limit, depending upon dough time period, and without atmospheric tempera- Applicationfiled March as, 1 923. Serial No. 628,392.

ture, vwithout detrimental efi'ect.

ever, in the heretofore known dough methods the temperature dough was allowed to rise. materially above these specified temperatures, souring of the dough and disintegration or breaking down of the gluten-forming constituents occur and therefore in ordinary bakery practice it has been considered practically essential to con- If, how

trol-the room temperature, by artificial re-- straightof the frig'eration if necessary, to avoid .the' temperature of the dough itself rising above 83 F. to keep within safe limits.

According to the present inventionfthe dough ingredients may be mixed under such,

temperature conditions that the resulting dough batch attains a temperature of not less than 85 F. and even up to=as high as 100 F., but preferably the batch may be transferred directly to the divider for subdivision without allowing any the necese sity of materially increasing the amount of yeast' used. The operations subsequent to division are carried out in the usual manner, the temperature of the dough during all of these operations being tinuously at not less than 8st F;

about 88 F., and

maintained con-' In the use of higher grade or strong flours, an'initial temperature of the dough, approximating 90 F. or higher, and a "dough time of substantially zero hours is feasible, even if only 2% to 3% of yeast, ba]s3ed o n the weight of the flour, is used.

initial temperature is meant the temperature of the dough batch at the time 1t is removed from the mixer, Since the initial temperature of the dough is up to thenormal summer temperature of most locali ties in the United States (or hi her in many instances) it may tend natura y (especially when employlng the higher peratures within the scop to drop somewhat during the period involved and in any event the necessiig of refrigeration of the dough is avoide .One of the advantages of the present in-'. vention is that the increased temperature of the dough results in the possibility of obtaining, in the dough time involved, the same leavening much smaller quantity of east than would be required for that doug time, with the heretofore usual and supposedly necessary dough temperature.

dough teI n' e of the invention) effect in the dough with a Heretofore in the preparation of sonecessary to use (for example for a one hour dough time three times the ordinary quantity of'yeast which would have been required during a three hour dough period in order to produce inthe short time allowed for leavening the desired leavening efiect within the temperature limits previously considered essential. By the process ofthe present invention, however, it has been discovered that entirely satisfactory results may be obtained by adopting a dough time of not longer than one hour and by using not more than twice the quantity of yeast which would be required in the ordinary three hour dough time period of dough formation. Usually about three pounds of yeast have been heretofore employed per barrel of flour in a straight dough process (without resort to special east-saving additions) .in commercial bakeries with a dough time of three hours, and a dough temperature of about 80 F., while in the present process, using substantially the same other dough ingredients but with a dough time of one hour and an initial 'dough temperature of about 85 F., it has been discovered that an equally good leavening of the dough is effected if double this quantity of yeast, viz: six pounds per barrel of flour is used in making up the dough. Thus a saving of one-third the quantity of yeast heretofore considered necessary in a one-hour dough time process, employing the same other ingredients, may be effected even when an initial dough tem 'ierature of 84 F. is adopted.

An especial advantage of the present invention, additional to the possible saving of yeast, is that by maintaining the dough at the temperatures, in accordance with the invention, above those previously usual, the expense-of refrigeration systems for cooling the dough is avoided and the capacity for total output of a bakery of given size of apparatus is increased and thequality of bread produced is equal in all respects to that of the bread produced'in the longer dough time processes heretofore practiced.

In the process of the present invention, it has been found to be usually highly advantageous, although not essential to the present invention, to employ as an auxiliary ingredientof the dough an acidified sacchariferous material of the type described and in the general manner described in United States Patent No. 1,355,127, dated Oct. 12, 1920, issued in my name and other non-injurious ingredients ordinarily used in usual bread-dough formulas may in general be included in the doughs without interfering with the eifect' of the present process employing the subdivided at temperatures approximating 90 F. or higher, the dough should be made with a flour of good quality with respect to its content (preferably relatively high) of gluten-forming constituents and mineral salts. resides in the process of the present invention is that wheat flours of quite different or various compositions, especially as regards the ratio of proteins to mineral matter However, adistinct advantage which in the flour, maybe employed with sub-5 stantially uniform and satisfactory results in bread making so that the variations in composition of "the flour and 'm the ratio of the proteins to mineral matter, in the flour do not require any changes of time or manipulation in the process of dough preparation and bread making by the baker.

Heretofore differences in the ratios of mineral matter to'proteins in the flour employed for dough making have established or determined the fermentation time (usually called the dough time) necessary for properly preparing a dough for baking by the straightv dough process. For example a flour to be used in the manufacture of dough fonbread making containing 12% of protein. and .42% of ash, which is considered as a standard flour, will normally require a dough time of 3 hours when used with 1% of yeast, based on the flour and with a dough temperature of 80 F. In contrast to this a flour containing the same amount of protein (12%) but containing .50% ash with the same dough temperature and the same quantity of yeast will 105.

require ordinarily a fermenting period or dough time 15% longer, namely 207 minutes or an increase in dough time of 27 minutes due to the increase of only .08% in the ash of the flour.

Furthermore, in actual bakery practice by the straight dough process as, heretofore employed, dough times or fermenting periods are affected also by other steps incidental to the process such as the punching 1 down of doughs or in the ratio of the quantity of dough confined, to the cubic capacity of the dough carrying tray or trough. Also with dough times or fermenting periods of adopted the texture and eneral physical characteristics of the bread are afiected as a result-of the manipulations of the dough during the fermenting period or dough 12 time.

In a straight dough bread process as heretofore practiced in which the so-called dough-time occupies a considerable lapse of time, for example three hours or even a shorter period, between the time that it 1 weight of the the lengths heretofore treatment to which it is subie comes from the mixing machines and the time that it is divided into loaves by a dividing machine or otherwise, the dough is very liable to injurious action by the mechanical cted, especially en to give the dough an exactly-proper mechanical treatment at precisely the proper stage of the fermentation. This difiiculty is avoided in the process of my present invention in accordance with which the dough'time may be f extreme care be not'taentirely eliminated.

It has been discovered that when, in ac ,cordance with the present invention, a dough temperature of 88 to 92 F. and a quantityof yeast amounting to 2 to 2 of the weight of the flour are employed, flours may be employed which vary in their mineral constituents or ash from .42 to .60% with no tratio tion.

concentration be adjusted I mentnecessitates a consideration ters Patent, 'is:-

substantial difl'erence in the texture or'general physical characteristics of the bread bein apparent (such as might otherwise resu t from .the manipulation of the dough during its usual fermenting period or dough time; It as heretofore been proposed that, for each different type of flour carrying dlflerent quantities of mineral matter in proportion to its protein content, the hydro en ion to a stan ard as a basis for determining the proper fermentation time necessary to put the dition ready for making bread. 's proposed hydrogen ion concentration adjustor determination of the bufi'er action of the salts in the particular flour which may be involved and re uires that the hydrogen ion concenn be determined prior to dough forma- The resent invention substantially eliminates t e necessity for resorting to the use of such com lex and intricate apparatus as is customari y or necessarily emplo ed in making tests and adjustments of hy rogen ion concentrations.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let 1. In a straight-dough rocess of making yeast-leavened bread, t

e improvement dou h in con which comprises mixing the dough ingredients under controlled temperature conditions such that when completely mixed the resulting dough batch will have attained a temperature of not less than 85 more than 100 F. and'substantially immediately subdividing the batch into loaves preparatory to introduction into the oven for baking. a

2. In a straight-dough process of making yeast-leavened bread, the improvement which comprises mixing the dough ingredients under controlled temperature conditions such that when completely mixed the resulting dou h batch will have attained a temperature 0 than 100 F., maintaining the dough temperature thereafter without substantial drop, substantially immediately dividing the batch into leaves and introducing the same into the oven for baking.

3. -In a straightdough process of making yeast-leavened bread, the which comprises mixing the dough ingredients under controlled temperature condi-. tions such that when completely mixed the resulting dough batch will have attained a temperature of approximately 90 F., maintaining the dou h temperature thereafter without substantlal drop, substantiallyimmediately subdividing the batch into loaves,

F. nor

improvement proofing, and introducing the same into'the ovenfor baking? yeast-leavened bread, the Improvement which comprises mixing together wheat flour, yeast, water and other auxiliary bread-dough ingredients imtil a dough-temperature is attained such that without dough-time fermentation the dough will yield a bread loaf 'of ood volume, crust, and texture of crumb; sub subdividin the batch into after proon baking.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed' my name to this specification on the 27th day of March, 1923.

ROBERT L.. comer;

loaves, therestantially immediately g for the usual short time, and 

